Sounds like you are on the slippery slope to depression.

This was my first thought TBH.

Been there before, swore it would never happen again…

Should also point out, 5 years ago I was 7stone lighter and doing a few fun XC races and 200+ mile weeks. I’m now barly able to do 20miles on the MTB, 2 times a week. 8O

Reading above and thinking about it, I have pleanty of options… I just need to pick one and get on with it instead of worrying. As long as it’s a change, it should do me good.

Thanks all. Feel a bit better knowing others feel the same.

A year out sounds cool, but my wife may disagree! No kids, and we don’t want any, so only the mortgage to think about really.

working less seems like a good idea, but not sure that would fly with the company I work for (I’m the only designer too, and we have lots of work on but not making enough for more staff).

Buy some local produce! Get hope…

Provided the hub shell doesn’t crack, Hope hubs are fully re-buildable (easily) and will last a long, long, long time (even if they do crack, Hope will give you a new hub for nothing).

My blue pro 2 hubs have been on 4 bikes/3 sets of rims over nearly 8 years….

The noise is cool by the way. :P
As others have said, certain grease will make the freehub quieter.

So it’s just a bike right?? It doesn’t do anything else?? 16k…… :?

Ah, the old religion augment!

They tell you “There’s no stronger force to bring people together than religion.” but they should say “There’s no stronger force to drive a wedge between two groups of people, and cause a war, than religion!”

They should ban the lot….

XTs are excellent, and great value for money.

Also, they run on mineral oil, so theres no need to bleed them every year like normal brake fluid (that eats seals and absorbs moisture if not changed).

I’ve been running cheapo bearings in my front pro 2 (15mm maxle) and only get a few rides before they develop play.

Get the proper ones! About £16 from Stif.

Also, using the proper installation bushings makes installation a doddle (£10 from CRC).

Before I switched to a 29er, I always ran fire xc front and rear. Spot on for where you want to ride TBH, and good value.

That is a common feeling on Rockshox forks. My 2011 Revelations do the same. No adverse performance or wear.

You will find other discussions about this on the web with a bit of googling.
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Same here, SRAM did have a reply to this on its site, something to do with the change from dual air to solo air, to chambers swapping pressure or something. When the fork is compressed slightly there’s no movement as the chambers are working apparently.[

I hope thats not true… These forks cost nearly £400!

I’ve dropped CRC an email and see what comes of it.

I’ve had the damper out to remove the poplock spring, so not sure about warranty… Although it was CRC that sent me a “non-Poplock” fork, which was actually a poplock fork with the poplock removed from the box. (I only noticed after fitting the forks/cutting the steerer that the spring was returning the dial to lockout and they would need the spring removing).

Going to check the stanchion fixings tonight and make sure evrything is tight.

Cool vid. :)

Shameless bump….

Anyone had this issue and fixed it? I don’t want to strip the forks for no reason as they’re only 5 weeks old!

Can’t find a contact for Sram, they seem to suggest contacting the dealer you bought them from, but can CRC help with such a technical query?

^ that was for the Boardman by the way.

Very nice looking bike. :)

Check the frame carfully when you pick it up. They’ve been known to have peeling paint out of the crate.

Also, first job is to take the cranks out and grease the BB. The BBs where installed almost dry in the factory and wear out super quick if not greased.

These are all historic issues with the CX to be honest, so may have been sorted on the later models, but I’d still check.

Stop expecting gleaming customer service just because you’ve walked in a shops door! This is not America. :P

I think sky dropped the ball with squad selection. So what if it causes a bit of media tension, having two GC contenders is at least a recipie for a 1-2 finish, and you’ve doubled your chance of having GC contender actually finish the race…. It was stupid to leave wiggo out, and he’s doing the right thing going back to track.

Me and my bro have just built our bikes onto second hand frames I’ve got a superlight 29er with a tapered head tube, he’s got a Titus motolight 26 with straight forks. His bike is quicker and more fun (Bast*rd!), and neither of us can tell what advantage the big steerer gives in my bike from riding them back to back…

No way, as long as you can get out and get muddy on it, its fine.

I don’t think one wheel is better overall anyway. They all have plus and minus points, except for 27.5 which is actually 27 and not a big enough difference from 26 to warrant the cost of the upgrade (IMHO anyway).

All I’d say is 29er may suit a road rider better. They don’t get up to speed quite like a 26, but they roll and hold speed with less effort than a 26 (more like a road bike).

Met my now wife on match.com :)

It’s worth using the paid sites, most people on free sites are just trying it out and aren’t serious about finding someone. People who have paid £60 are more keen to get their monies worth. ;)

It’s great that this is being discussed on here without everyone trolling. Well done singletrack forum for being so grown up. :)

BMX is really good fun and get you fit rather quick if you put time into it, the ‘scene’ can be a bit naff/juvenile though… IMO.

Learn to manual properly (arms straight, legs well bent) without using the brake. Manualing everything/everywhere is so much fun it’s unreal. :)

My parents always had a loan going, so when I started working I did the same.

MTBs, Road bikes, bits, all on credit cards or loans. I had 3 motorbikes at one point! 2 worth 6k and a old scrapper to do up. I think a good 70% of my salary was paying for debt….

10 years after starting to work, I finally paid it all off this year and I’m now debt free (apart from the mortgage) and will never have a loan/finance/credit card again (unless an emergency comes up).

I’ve now got enough free cash that I bought my superlight frame, forks and all the extras to move bits from my Surly to the superlight with the just a month’s spare cash. I’m skint now until pay day, but my bike is awesome and I don’t owe a thing on it. :) That’s a great feeling for someone who’s spent a lot of years in debt.

And yes, I worried a lot about writing off, or de-valuing anything I had finance on, to the point where stuff wasn’t getting used.

Moral of my boring story, don’t get started with debt if you don’t have any. You don’t “need” that super expensive flash bike all the magazines love…

Oh, as we’re talking bike brands, does that include component manufacturers too?? If so, HOPE!

My Kinesis maxlight was an awesome frame! I ran it with a Pace RC39 and it was just over 10kg and took a fair amount of abuse.

Jeff Jones! :P

No one has put down Surly yet, and I like them, so that’s my official answer!

If you have no ambition to ride up really technical steep trails, 1×9 will increase leg strength and is fine. If your doing all day epics, stick with a granny ring and middle ring (spinning is way more efficient than grinding, regardless of your leg strength).

I went to France for a weeks training with some national level racers. The stuff they had us riding up wouldn’t be possible without a granny ring…

I’m running a hope narrow/wide and its fine withought a clutch rear mech, works really well.

XT trail brakes are really good. The servo wave pulls the pads really far back away from disc, giving you more mud/bent disc clearance.

They snatch a bit, but once you’re used to them, they are excellent.

I don’t mind the site, although it is hardwork…

One thing that really annoyed me though is when they sent out my new forks last week. I ordered some REBA SL 29er forks, non-poplock version.

I got a pair of poplock forks with the poplock removed from the box! :evil: Not an issue you may think, but the damping unit returns to the lock out position on a spring for the poplock specific forks. I only noticed this after cutting the steerer and installing the forks, so I had no choice but to take the damping unit to bits and remove the spring, on a brand new set of forks. :evil:

No 2 hour climbs here, but plenty of steep,technical stuff and 30min climbs.

I think £20 for a new front mech may be worth a try first… I am worried that 1×10 with an easy gear is going to be expensive, and still wont be low enough for steep, technical climbs…

Have to admit, 1x does look better, and reduce clutter on the bike.

I’ll budget for some new shiny bits when i get paid at the end of the month. TBH, a shadow+ mech would be a good upgrade too as the sram xo has no clutch of any kind.

I’ll check out slx too, it may save a bit of cash.

BASTARDS!! Sorry to hear you’ve lost so many cool bikes in one hit.

I had an almost new bike (new frame, my own built wheels, lots of parts with years of history) stole from my work earlier in the year, I didn’t sleep right for weeks, I was so mad and fed up. :(

I’ll keep an eye on our local trails. Hope you get them back.

Have you looked into a steel frame? Surly 29er steel frames are super smooth compared to aluminium.

Also, I had a kenisis maxlight xc pro 2. It was scandium with a carbon fiber rear triangle. It soaked up way more bumps than a ridgid frame has any right to….

Nice pic. :) You’ve picked a cracking day for it.

and here I am, stuck at work. :(

Ask any knowledgeable motorbike rider about this, and you’ll always be told “to make sure you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear”…. Don’t see how this wouldn’t apply to a MTB too…

Welcome aboard!
What shock are you running and what fork travel?
Ps your mystery creak will be your pivot needing tightening.

Thanks.

It’s the standard float CTD shock, the forks are REBA soloair, 120mm.

The front is a tad higher than on the Surly, and feels a bit skittish. Going to drop the stem to the bottom and see if it’s any better. otherwise, I think it’s just a case of getting use to a bike with suspension again….

It’s a Hope ring, a narrow-wide jobbie. Works really well.

Yea, I put the post in backwards :oops: and that’s as low as the nose would go…. I was all ready to slate the crappy Crankbros post until I realised it was backwards and felt rather stupid! :oops: :oops: Sorted now though.

Better Photo (although the saddle is still at a silly angle) –